Proper hand guards are a must. Nothing like trying to get home with a broken clutch lever.

Are you planning on crashing a lot? Not sure how much this stuff is needed for most crashes, but just like gear, you only need to use it once before it pays for itself multiple times.
Might want to look into some protection for the rear rotor. ProCycle has a weld on shark fin.
Rear master cylinder guard. The MC isn't overly exposed, but I wouldn't want to be without it.

Spend some time at Procycle and see what you want/need, as they seem to carry most everything DR related.

Crap. I was tempted to try the Intiminators, just 'cause. Now, not so much. I do like my emulators.

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I know the Intiminators seem to work for some riders, a good option for those who are bothered by fork dive. But I prefer the wide range of adjust-ability with Race-Tech emulators. The Emulators come with 3 rebound springs (soft, medium and hard) to fine tune rebound feel.
In addition, you can tune further by drilling more or fewer holes in damper rod and vary diameter of holes. Then you've got oil weight and oil height to play with, plus spring rates and preload.

You could end up chasing your tail ... but might be worth trying different settings until you get something close to perfection. Mine is perfect and a great compromise between street and dirt.
Fork feel is subjective. If a pro sets up your emulators ... they may not always work for you. Depends what you're used to, how you ride and balance of street vs. off road.

Progressive springs from procycle. 200 ready to ride. How can you tell if you have the right amount of preload? I don't have the noise that isaac004 has, but the springing back to the top issue.

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Easy: stock = too much dive, +1/2" = too harsh, +1/4" = too much dive, +3/8" at our weight = bingo. These numbers are in addition to the stock springs and spacers. Since you have progressive springs which are stiffer than stock, I'd go with 1/4".

I know the Intiminators seem to work for some riders, a good option for those who are bothered by fork dive. But I prefer the wide range of adjust-ability with Race-Tech emulators. The Emulators come with 3 rebound springs (soft, medium and hard) to fine tune rebound feel.
In addition, you can tune further by drilling more or fewer holes in damper rod and vary diameter of holes. Then you've got oil weight and oil height to play with, plus spring rates and preload.

You could end up chasing your tail ... but might be worth trying different settings until you get something close to perfection. Mine is perfect and a great compromise between street and dirt.
Fork feel is subjective. If a pro sets up your emulators ... they may not always work for you. Depends what you're used to, how you ride and balance of street vs. off road.

Click to expand...

Good info. I'm happy with the emulators, first bike I've owned with a plush suspension (Cogent shock w/rebound on the back). I'm just curious about the differences between the two.

Thanks for your suggestions, I did check all of the above mentioned items today, and torqued the mounts while the engine was warm.
Unfortunately I don't have any positive results, the vibration levels are unchanged.

Since I have no other "easy" things to check, I guess I'll take a deeper look into this vibration issue this winter when I'll take the top end apart for replacing the leaky base gasket. Hope I'll be able to see if the counterbalancer is installed/aligned correctly when the cylinder is removed from the engine, through it's opening. I don't want to split the crankcase unless strictly necessary.

Went riding with my buddies just north of woodland park,colorado. Had a great time but did see a small amount of bad weather on 1 of the days there.

Pikes Peak in the background.

Links below are to a couple of short videos I took while there.
1st is of a scenic overlook spot we stopped at to take a breather and enjoy the view.
2nd video is of a hail storm we got caught in about 5 miles from our camp, my buddy and I had just pulled in to our camp and jumped under our tarp.

Looking at trading my 2004 Yamaha FZ6 for a 1996 DR650 with low miles and looks to be in great condition, am I crazy?
The guy is asking 2700 for the bike and mine is worth a little more maybe 3000 - 3200.
The DR has a FMF pipe and has supposedly been jetted for it and everything else is stock. What should I look for, I commute 100 miles a day is this thing reliable and able enough to make it? about 20 of that is interstate travel the rest is back roads. What about tank range, the FZ will take me about 250 miles on a tank of gas what about the DR? I also get 50 mpgs is this about the same?
Ken

I would try and be patient and sell youre bike first. I just bought an 02 from a Harley Guy who kept it immaculate and in show room condition for 2500.00 locally. The 96 sounds to be a unfair trade for you. the 02 came with 5xxx miles and extra chain and sproket a tail bag and a new battery tender still in the box.

Looking at trading my 2004 Yamaha FZ6 for a 1996 DR650 with low miles and looks to be in great condition, am I crazy?
The guy is asking 2700 for the bike and mine is worth a little more maybe 3000 - 3200.
The DR has a FMF pipe and has supposedly been jetted for it and everything else is stock. What should I look for, I commute 100 miles a day is this thing reliable and able enough to make it? about 20 of that is interstate travel the rest is back roads. What about tank range, the FZ will take me about 250 miles on a tank of gas what about the DR? I also get 50 mpgs is this about the same?
Ken

thats what I suspected as I haven't had a chance to look it up on NADA yet. My bike is my only way to go so I really had rather just trade it so I wont have to walk to work :eek1
it is in really good shape at least cosmetically but I have not ridden it yet.
I would also rather have a larger tank and a better seat and some saddlebags to make the travels easier.
I really miss my Uly, it had it all.....

I know the Intiminators seem to work for some riders, a good option for those who are bothered by fork dive. But I prefer the wide range of adjust-ability with Race-Tech emulators. The Emulators come with 3 rebound springs (soft, medium and hard) to fine tune rebound feel.
In addition, you can tune further by drilling more or fewer holes in damper rod and vary diameter of holes. Then you've got oil weight and oil height to play with, plus spring rates and preload.

Click to expand...

The Intiminators have a shim stack you can play with and the damper rod holes, oil weight and height, spring rates and preload are just as adjustable as for Emulators.

Looking at trading my 2004 Yamaha FZ6 for a 1996 DR650 with low miles and looks to be in great condition, am I crazy?
The guy is asking 2700 for the bike and mine is worth a little more maybe 3000 - 3200.
The DR has a FMF pipe and has supposedly been jetted for it and everything else is stock. What should I look for, I commute 100 miles a day is this thing reliable and able enough to make it? about 20 of that is interstate travel the rest is back roads. What about tank range, the FZ will take me about 250 miles on a tank of gas what about the DR? I also get 50 mpgs is this about the same?
Ken

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As already mentioned, his asking price is too high.
100 mile daily commute is no problem for the DR. The stock tank is small, but larger ones are readily available. You'll almost certainly be shopping for an upgrade for the stock seat before long. Because the stock seat is painful for the vast majority of DR riders. Several aftermarket solutions for this, too.

I second you on the seat issue.Looks like the Suzuki Gel Seat is only a a very small step on the improvement scale. sigh guess I will have to shell out some real coin for a good one . I am leaning towards the Sargent one.. Now i have a undented replacement tank I am thinking about cutting my dented one open and welding some extra metal/ volume into it along with a baffle or 2 to slow the fuel from sloshing.

I recommend you look at the Seat Concepts seat. Cost about half of a Sargent and I have had Sargent and Corbin on other bikes and Seat Concepts would now be my first choice. There is a ADV discount which covers the shipping cost. For the discount use "ADVRIDER". Oh, my bike had the Suzuki gel seat when I bought it and I found it very uncomfortable.

In preparation for an off-road ride the coming weekend, i decided to replace my rear TKC80 with a new one. What should have taken 5 minutes, took me all of 3 hours. I could not get my rear axle out of the wheel. And when it finally came out, it f'ed up the bearing, which i believe were still the originals. So after 28.000 km (12.700 mi) i guess that's not to bad, after all the rain and mud i've seen with the bike. Just hope i can replace them in time before the ride....

So my question is,

Does anyone know the numbers for the rear wheel bearings from SKF?
All three bearings, the on in cush-hub, and the 2 bearings in the wheel hub.

A month or so back I decided that I wanted to recreate all the body parts of my DR650 with carbon fiber parts. I started a thread to share my progress learning how to do composite work and making the pieces for my DR. The last part that I will make will be a Dakar style fairing with a dash to hold all the goodies that we need on our bikes.

Lots of people have posted greats tips and tricks on the thread and I've included a great resource page to help others get started.

Follow along and if you're interested in making carbon fiber parts for your DR, do it! It's really easy.